What we do

MercyFirst works with children and families who have been traumatized - children growing up without parents, families in crisis, teens who have lost hope for the future. Every year we provide hope and healing to thousands of children and adolescents, and their families, who are struggling today, giving them the foundation for a brighter tomorrow

MercyFirst also provides Family Support programs. Our Preventive Service programs serve over 500 families with children at-risk of entering foster care due to abuse and neglect each year. These programs keep children out of foster care by strengthening the family unit through case management services, home visits, counseling, parenting training and advocacy services.

MercyFirst’s Bridges to the Future initiative is designed to maximize the potential of adolescents in our foster care programs who are at risk of academic failure, behavioral problems, substance abuse, poverty and future involvement in the criminal justice system if their emotional, academic and vocational needs are not met. Bridges to the Future addresses youth development through a wide variety of interactive experiences designed to develop both hard and soft employment skills and encourage continued academic achievement necessary for self-sufficiency.

MercyFirst, a Sanctuary® certified agency has professionally trained staff prepared to respond to the complex needs of traumatized and neglected children and adolescents with serious emotional problems, teens and young adults without families who must learn to make their own way as adults, and families coping with poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, substance abuse and mental illness.